Level 7- Quran Studies. Mid Term Exam Study Guide. 2016/2017

1. The Quran was revealed over a 23 years period.
2. The Quran is divided by size into 30 almost equal parts called Juzae’.
3. The Quran is divided into 114 chapters each called Surah or Surat (Pl. Sowar) not equal in size. Each Surah consists of verses each called Ayah (Pl. Ayat).
4. The Quran is divided by time of revelation into 2 parts; Mecci & Madani.
5. Surat Annas is the 114th Surah & the last Surah when opening the Holy Quran.
6. The Quran is the words spoken by Allah, revealed thru the angel Gabriel to prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
7. The Quran revealed before Hijra from Mecca is called Mecci. It deals mainly with issues of faith & beliefs to establish an Islamic personal foundation.
8. The Quran revealed after Hijra to Madina is called Madani. It deals mainly with does & don’ts to establish a Muslim society.
9. Surat Alfatiha consists of 7 Ayat.
10. Surat Alfatiha must be recited at least 17 times each day by a Muslim during the 5 daily prayers.
11. Surat Alfatiha is the 1st Surah when opening the Holy Quran.
12. In Surat Alfatiha a Muslim mainly asks Allah for guidance to the straight path of those Allah had bestowed his kindness upon like the prophets & their companions.
13. Guidance; in Islamic & linguistic sense; has two components: to instruct the subject to a path and to enable the subject to follow a path.
14. The word “Ameen” is not part of Surat Alfatiha.
15. Surat Al-Hujurat; number 49 in the Mosehaf is a Madani Sura.
16. Surat Al-Hujurat starts with a call to those who believed.
17. The First command was not to advance any opinions or commands over those of Allah & his messenger.
18. The Second command was to practice Taqwa.
19. One-way of understanding Taqwa; it is (a) protecting ourselves from going to Hell fire, (b) protecting our place in Jannah and (c) protecting our love of Allah.
20. The Third command was not to raise others voices / opinion in the presence of the prophet PBUH & have respect for him.
21. The Fourth command was not to raise one’s own voice / opinion above that of the prophet PBUH & have respect for him.
22. After the third call to those who believed, Allah commands not to react to news from any source before verification.
23. A true believer should verify all information he receives specially from the media before forming an opinion.
24. Fighting among the believers is forbidden by Allah.
25. It is still possible that two groups of believers can have fighting among themselves. That does not change the fact that they remain believers & brothers.
26. Neutral believers have the obligation to intervene between other Muslim fighting groups to stop the fighting & settle the dispute in a justly manner.
27. If one of the fighting groups of believers misbehaves by refusing to stop the fight & accepting settlement, the neutral groups are commanded by Allah to fight that group only till they agree to stop fighting & accept settlement.
28. After stop of the fighting, the initially neutral groups that fought the misbehaving group, should remain neutral & settle the dispute between the initial fighting groups in a justly manner in accordance to Allah’s commands & teachings.
29. Allah forbids believers from making fun of others in any form: verbal, suggestive or hated nicknames.
30. In order to protect people’s privacy, Muslims are forbidden from most ill thoughts of others which may lead to forbidden spying & backbiting.
31. To repent from a sin correctly “Tawba”, a Muslim must: (a) stop committing the sin, (b) feel regret and sorrow for committing the sin, (c) intend and commit not to repeat it again, and if the sin involved a person or damage (d) to seek the victim’s forgiveness and correct the damage in a way that doesn’t cause more damage (e) spend the same time / resources/ energy spent in sinning to do good deeds instead of the bad ones repenting from.
32. Backbiting is permissible when complaining to authorities, testifying or giving advice.
33. Believers should avoid suspicious thoughts of others as well as placing themselves in suspicious situations.
34. While all humans are created from male & female, Adam PBUH had no father nor mother. His wife had no mother. Jesus PBUH had no father. Thus demonstrating the complete abilities of Allah to create humans in all possible ways.
35. The significance of mentioning “Azwaj” or pairs; repeatedly in the Quran; is that it exposes the hoax of the Evolution Theory. For Evolution to happen, one gender of a species is not enough to evolve into another species. There must be a pair; male & female; that evolve in the same place, at the same time, in the same manner so their reproductive systems are completely compatible, both survive to adulthood & then mate producing surviving offspring of both genders. Otherwise, the new species will not reproduce. For this to happen is farfetched & impossible by mathematical probability. For this to happen repeatedly, billions of times, is just fantasy.
36. All humans are created equal. The best of humans are the ones practicing most Taqwa.
37. The differences between nations and tribes should not be reasons for abuse or wars. It should be used for exchange of ideas, knowledge and experiences as well as exploring cultures.
38. Bano Asad were bragging that they are believers after declaring their acceptance of Islam. Allah stated that Iman is a higher status than Islam.
39. The 5 pillars of Islam: a) Shahada, b) Salah, the 5 mandatory daily prayers, c) Sawm, fasting the month of Ramadan, d) giving Zakat and e) preforming Hajj are doable action items and only the basic pillars of Islam not the entire Islam.
40. Iman can be summarized in the elements of believing in the unseen by the heart & mind that: a) Allah sent b) Angels with c) Holly Books to d) Prophets & Messengers to tell us about e) Qadar or Fate & Destiny in this life and f) Life after death & the Day of Judgement.
41. Iman should be demonstrated in the behavior & actions of the believer.
42. Allah who is merciful & forgiving still rewards Muslims for their good deeds even if Iman is not yet strong in their hearts.
43. Allah has names & attributes as revealed to prophet Mohamed. We should not think that Allah is like any of his creation. For example Allah hears but we should not imagine that He has ears like any of his creation. We should be concerned that we don’t say bad things that Allah hears. Allah sees but we should not visualize that He has eyes like any of His creation. We should be concerned that we don’t do bad things that Allah sees.
44. True believers believe in Allah and His messenger without any doubt and struggle for His sake with their wealth & their own self and against their own desires.
45. Belief in Allah includes certainty in Allah as the only creator &, controller of everything, acceptance in Allah as the only one worthy of obedience & worship and conviction in Allah’s names & attributes as revealed to Prophet Mohamed PBUH & to behave according to them.
46. Belief in Prophet Mohamed PBUH take account of acceptance of all his authenticated narrations & Ahadith.
47. Jihad or struggling for the sake of Allah with one’s wealth was mentioned 1st before struggling with one’s own self because majority of humans would defend their wealth with their own selves.
48. Wealth in not only money. It can be time, ability to assist, knowledge … etc. Thus the poor & the rich have similar responsibility & chance to struggle for the sake of Allah to better humanity.
49. The biggest Jihad is against one’s own self by controlling emotions, anger, desires, whims, feelings … etc. Practicing self-control can be taught by fasting as much as needed.
50. Allah is “Aleem” عليم who knows everything. Allah is “Sameea” سميع who hears everything. Allah is “Baseer” بصير who sees everything.
51. Allah stated the word “Taqwa” تقوي one time and its derivative command verb “Itaquo” أتقوا 4 times plus Allah stated his attribute “Aleem” عليم and its verb “Yaa’lam” يعلم many times in Surat Al-Hujurat in addition to “Sameea” سميع & “ Baseer” بصير to stress the importance of self-control to avoid Allah’s punishment, missing His reward and losing His love if His commands in this Surah particularly and in general are not obeyed.
52. Allah criticized the Bedouins for bragging that they accepted Islam and claiming that they did the prophet favor by not fighting him before.
53. Giving the fact that the majority of humanity is destined to Hell due to their disbelief and disobedience to Allah, it’s Allah who does us a favor by guiding us to know Iman and to act according to it. We should thank Allah whenever we do a good deed for guiding and helping us to do it.
54. Anyone’s Iman and belief in Allah and all the good deeds anyone may do, don’t equal one of Allah’s gifts and blessings. Allah doesn’t need our Iman and good deeds. We need Iman and to do good deeds, to be good humans on this earth and to deserve Allah’s love and mercy saving us from His punishment and granting us His reward.
55. A true believer do good things perfectly to his best ability for the sake of Allah and should not be disappointed if others don’t appreciate his good doings. That puts a true believer’s psychic at ease and make him steadfast being a good human when faced with unappreciative persons.
56. Ignorance is not an excuse. We have to learn Allah’s message to us. We need to practice in our life all the knowledge that we learned because we are accountable before Allah regardless we know or not.